16 Best Flowers to Grow in Your Hanging Basket
These low-maintenance beauties make perfect hanging basket plants.
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Hanging baskets are the perfect addition to any porch, home, or even garden space. They'll even dress up a tiny balcony. They add dramatic color as flowers spill out of their containers, while providing vertical interest and texture anywhere you place them.
When placed by front doors, along walkways, and around patios and decks, they add beauty and curb appeal. And if nibbling bunnies keep nipping off your garden blooms, hanging baskets are a good way to keep the feast away.
Below, find sixteen of our favorite flowers for hanging baskets. You can mix and match types and colors, or fill them with one type or color for maximum impact.
Hanging Basket Plant Care Tips
The most important thing to remember about hanging baskets is that they dry out quickly. In hot, dry summers, you may need to water them daily—or even twice a day— as the plant matures and roots fill the pot.
Some basket liners, such as coco liners (made from coconut fibers), need extra attention because they tend to let water evaporate quickly from the container. Impermeable containers such as plastic may not need to be watered as frequently.
Don’t forget that flowers need the right kind of light to thrive. If the plant's care instructions call for "full sun" that typically means 6 or more hours of direct sunlight per day. "Partial sun" means about half that, at least.
One more tip for growing flowers in hanging baskets: Feed your plants regularly if you want them to keep blooming. Use a water soluble general purpose fertilizer once a week, or add slow-release granular fertilizer to baskets, which lasts for about three months.
Calibrachoa
These flowers are available in every shade you can imagine from hot pink to deep purple with single or double blooms.
They’ll bloom all season long, and nothing surpasses their ability to flower through heat and drought, especially if you keep the watered and fertilized. They need full sun but can take a little shade in the afternoon.
Fuchsias
These exotic-looking flowers add beauty and color to full shade locations. They come in many different color combinations of white, pink, red, salmon and purple. Hummingbirds love them!
Sweet Alyssum
The cascading form of this low-growing annual makes it a natural for hanging baskets. The tiny, sweetly-scented flowers come in white, purple and pink and are irresistible to pollinators. Give it full sun, though it will take some afternoon shade.
Scaevola (Fan Flowers)
This sturdy annual, called fan flower because of its delicate fan-shaped flowers, is a tough cookie! It’s heat and drought tolerant and keeps on blooming all season long. Give it full sun.
Petunias
Petunias are old-fashioned favorites in hanging baskets and window boxes because they bloom all season long.
They look similar to calibrachoa but have larger flowers. Bonus: New varieties of petunias keep flowering without your needing to deadhead, or pinch off spent blooms. They need full sun.
Ferns
Ferns of all kinds are a great solution for adding texture and interest to hanging baskets. Flank a front door with Boston ferns, or decorate with a stunning staghorn fern.
Pansies and Violas
If you need some cool-season color in spring or fall, you can’t beat pansies and violas. They come in a wide array of brilliant jewel tones and pastels, and they’re lovely tumbling over the edges of hanging baskets and window boxes. They can handle sun in cool weather but fade out in the heat, so give them a little shade if you want them to make it past June.
Torenia
These shade-loving flowers, also called wishbone flower because of the shape of the stamens, last all season long. They come in lovely shades of pink, lilac, deep purple and white. Plant these in hanging baskets and window boxes and wait for the hummingbirds to arrive!
Strawberries
You may never have thought of growing strawberries in hanging baskets. Many new varieties have been developed to look especially pretty cascading out of hanging baskets. Bonus: They’re edible, of course! Strawberries need full sun.
Lobelia
The delicate blooms of blue, white and purple lobelia look amazing in hanging baskets. It likes part shade and blooms best before nighttime temperatures get too toasty. If it starts to look rough, trim it back and it should rebound when cooler weather returns.
Sedum
Many types of sedum look smashing draping out of a basket, plus they’re also succulents so they need watered less frequently than many other flowers. Look for creeping varieties and give them plenty of sun to look their best.
Kitchen Herbs
Herbs also look great in hanging baskets and window boxes. Mix it up with more upright varieties, such as rosemary, and creeping types, such as thyme for an attractive and useful hanging basket. Most herbs need full sun.
Bacopa (Water Hyssop)
Tiny pink, blue or white flowers trail along the stems of this hardy plant that drapes beautifully. Plant it alone or in a mixed basket. Bacopa likes part sun.
Portulaca (Green purslane)
These creeping succulents have tremendous flower power, and they come in many brilliant colors including fuchsia, scarlet, coral, and bright yellow. They need full sun.
New blueberry varieties, such as Sapphire Cascade, have been developed to be grown in hanging baskets to show off their attractive cascading form. Some also boast pretty fall color. And, of course, you can eat them! Blueberries need full sun.
Verbena
Verbena bloom until a hard frost, and they look especially good in mixed containers. They love sun but will tolerate some shade.
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